With Ba already gone Pardew has the time to invest in a new striker, but who would want to move to Newcastle now?

If there was one blessing about Demba Ba’s departure from Newcastle United, it was its timing.

The transfer window hadn’t even opened and Newcastle’s top scorer was talking to Chelsea. Four days later he was scoring his first goals for them.

Two years ago, Liverpool and Kenny Dalglish dropped £39million in Newcastle’s laps, just hours before the transfer window closed, and owner Mike Ashley decided there was not enough time to find a replacement for Andy Carroll. They ended up with Shefki Kuqi. Nice lad and everything, but . . . Ideally of course, Newcastle would have loved to keep Demba Ba for at least a few more months.

Long gone: Demba Ba has given Alan Pardew a front-line headache although he has the time to fix it

Alan Pardew had talked of Ba owing the club which helped to save his career after relegation with West Ham and the complications with medicals which led to the breakdown of a move to Stoke City. Once Chelsea came in, loyalty went out of the window.

But a player who can turn down a new contract with his present club repeatedly over a period of six months to a year, is a man who will have his head easily turned. And Chelsea are pretty significant head-turners.

His early release has at least given Pardew and Newcastle time to find a replacement this time, and to invest what little money they made from Ba in the player they should have signed in the summer.

What can I do? Alan Pardew has been hampered by injuries this season

A month ago, Newcastle looked an
attractive prospect to new signing Mathieu Debuchy, who has joined the
club. Now, when it is compared to Inter Milan, Dortmund or even West
Ham, does it look like so pleasing on the eye to top target Loic Remy?

I am not so sure and Newcastle are not a club who like to be messed about in negotiations. It could be a long month for their supporters if deals are not finalised quickly.

Twelve months ago, they did spend in the winter window, and they spent well.

Papiss
Cisse’s arrival a week before the January 2012 window closed was
eventually to lead to a change of look and emphasis at St James’s Park
and within the Newcastle team.

Cisse was handed the Number Nine shirt – a gesture which cannot have been lost on Ba – and subsequently played like one who deserved to wear the coveted shirt. He scored 13 in 14, Ba netted once, and sulked on the flank.

But their roles were swapped this season and, amid claims that their dreadful body language proved they couldn’t get on, they could not play together or score in the same game.

Cisse was rested at Brighton, or not risked, and, although he was kept to his flanker’s role against Everton in midweek last week, he has been promised he will return to the centre forward spot next week.

And that will be like unleashing a new signing again. Look out for Cisse’s goals.

For not only will he and Fabricio Coloccini be back, but Yohan Cabaye and Hatem Ben Arfa, two essential creative forces, will be on the verge of returning too.

It will of course take the pair time to find their fitness and form, and that will be highlighted with the level of expectation to deliver and get Newcastle out of trouble. Even Cabaye’s tardy return, as he looks set to miss out on Norwich City this week, is back page news up here.

But with that pair, plus Steven Taylor and eventually Cheick Tiote, Newcastle look a very different team, and a very good one. And they certainly look more attractive to their targets.

Head in hands: Ba's departure will give Papiss Cisse more chance to play through the middle

O'Neill preaches about results but Sunderland's form is yet to improve

A few days before they beat
Manchester City at home again, Sunderland Martin O’ Neill was asked if
his side had really built on that New Year’s Day win.

`Your
judgement on what you build at a football club, I think, is in the
results and we have to win a lot more games. Managers talk about
infrastructures and so on but I’m sorry we are all about results.’

Sunderland won 12 Barclays Premier
League games in 2012, including two against the champions, drew 14 and
lost 16. It is a set of results which shows they have not really got any
worse or any better under O’Neill. But at least they haven’t got any
worse.

It will take time for him to turn the club in the direction he wants, and to have players at his disposal which befits what he believes he needs in a squad.

His selections at Bolton, including failing to name the full allocation of seven substitutes, is surely a demonstration that he is not entirely happy with the numbers and options at the moment. And he expects owner Ellis Short to help change that.

There were encouraging signs at Bolton. Connor Wickham is starting to look like a centre-forward, David Vaughan happily buzzed round the midfield areas at last, Simon Mignolet continues to improve and show he is one of the best young keepers around. He certainly has to be on his toes with Carlos Cuellar around.

O’Neill will have drawn an unhappy veil over the first half performance at the Reebok. His team were fortunate to escape that first 45 minutes just one goal down, and it is to their absolute credit they fought back to take the tie to a replay at the Stadium of Light.

They’ve kept the spirit of 73 alive just, even if they do face Everton in the next round.

Last season, Sunderland unravelled after a quarter-final defeat to David Moyes’ s side. They failed to win a game, drawing five and losing three after that. The season finished on March 27 and that simply cannot be allowed to happen again as Sunderland edge closer to safety in the league.

The results that were not good enough, and O’Neill knows that. His answer above shows it. The results which will need to improve this season as O’Neill looks to build on that City success this time round.

What to change? Martin O'Neill has struggled to make real improvements at Sunderland